Taiwanese Fan Tuan Rice Rolls: Make-Ahead Breakfast Wraps for School Mornings

Drain the soaked sticky rice, combine it with the white rice and salt, and steam over rapidly boiling water for 25 to 30 minutes until every grain is translucent and tender.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups short-grain sticky rice, soaked 4 hours or overnight
• 1/2 cup medium-grain white rice
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup pork floss (rousong), or shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1/2 cup pickled mustard greens, drained and finely chopped
• 2 Chinese crullers (youtiao), split lengthwise, or 8 strips of toasted baguette
• 2 soft-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Drain the soaked sticky rice, combine it with the white rice and salt, and steam over rapidly boiling water for 25 to 30 minutes until every grain is translucent and tender.
2. Fluff the hot rice with a wooden paddle, fold in the soy sauce and sesame oil, then cover and let it cool for 10 minutes so it is warm rather than scalding.
3. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and spread about one cup of rice into a rectangle roughly six by eight inches, pressing to an even half-inch thickness with wet hands.
4. Along the center, lay a line of pork floss, a spoonful of pickled mustard greens, a split cruller and two quarters of soft-boiled egg, then scatter sesame seeds and scallions over the top.
5. Using the plastic wrap as a sling, lift one long edge over the filling and roll tightly away from you, squeezing gently as you go so no air pockets remain.
6. Twist both ends of the wrap like a candy wrapper and press the roll firmly into a compact log, then repeat with the remaining rice and fillings.
7. Chill the wrapped rolls up to two days; the rice firms as it cools, which is exactly what makes them portable.
8. To serve, unwrap and slice on a sharp diagonal, or send the whole roll in its wrapper and let it be eaten like a burrito on the walk to the bus.
9. Fan tuan is Taiwan's answer to the rushed morning, sold from breakfast carts before dawn and eaten one-handed on scooters and station platforms. The contrast is the whole point: warm sticky rice against a shatteringly crisp cruller, sweet pork floss against sharp pickled greens. Because the rice is meant to be pressed and cooled, it is one of the rare breakfasts that genuinely improves from being made the night before.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 480 kcal
• Protein: 18g
• Fat: 12g
• Carbohydrates: 74g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 3g
• Sodium: 720mg